On Friday March 3, 18-year-old Jordan Stolz became the youngest person ever to win a world speed skating gold medal.
Stolz is from Kewaskum, Wisconsin. He began skating on a small pond in his family's backyard. When he was five years old, he saw speed skaters at the 2010 Winter Olympics on TV. He suddenly became very interested in learning to skate fast.
By the time he was in fifth grade, Stolz had won national championships. In high school, he went to school online so that he could train for up to six hours a day.
Last November, Stolz earned two gold medals during the 2022-23 ISU Speed Skating World Cup, making him the youngest male to win a World Cup race. Then, in February, Stolz won four gold medals at the 2023 World Junior Speed Skating Championships. The medals were for 500-meter, 1,000-meter, and 5,000-meter races, and the team sprint.
Stolz's coach, Bob Corby, says one of Stolz's greatest talents is the way he is able to take the corners in the curving (弯曲的) track at high speeds. "Everyone is extremely impressed with the way he goes around corners," says Mr Corby.
That ability helped him out at the speed skating championships in early March. In the 500-meter race, Stolz passed his opponent, Yuma Murakami, on the final curve. It only took him 34.10 seconds to cover a distance longer than five football fields.
The win made Stolz the youngest person ever to win a world speed skating gold medal. In the 1,000-meter race, he defeated Thomas Krol of the Netherlands, who won the Olympic gold medal for the race in 2022. In the 1,500-meter race, he defeated both Krol and Kjeld Nuis, who won the Olympic gold medal for the event in 2018 and 2022.
Stolz's speed and strength have amazed many people. One of his opponents, Canadian skater Laurent Dubreuil, says he has been trying to imitate the way Stolz goes around corners. Laurent took second place in the 500-meter race. He says Stolz's skating style is "just something that I don't think I've seen in a speed skater before".
